Medway and Captrain, the two main operators in Portugal, will have to wait until 2028 to deploy their new Stadler Euro6000 locomotives. The certification of the Convel STM will take longer than expected; without it, these modern ETCS-equipped trains would be locked out of most of the Portuguese rail network.
“The [certification] process is long and requires technological development and certification. Firstly, the [Convel STM] system needs to be installed and homologated on a locomotive in Spain and then obtain the certification. Only after that, this package can be certified in Portugal”, detailed Captrain Portugal’s commercial director, Germán Fonseca, last Thursday, during a seminar promoted by Transportes & Negócios.
This delay will impact the operator’s business. As it is now, the ETCS locomotives need to be changed at the border between Portugal and Spain, “causing delays”, added Medway’s commercial director, Paulo Niza, in the same seminar. He expects the new locomotives in Portugal “only at the beginning of 2028”. Fonseca is more pessimistic and forecasts them for the end of 2028.
Lack of interoperability
Since 2022, both Captrain and Medway have incorporated several Euro6000 locomotives suitable for Iberian gauge tracks into their fleet. These machines are equipped with ASFA Digital and ETCS, appropriate for the Spanish rail network. The scenario to reach Portugal is different, though.
Around 69% (1,740.8) kilometres of the Portuguese railway network is equipped with Convel, the national automatic train protection (ATP). This class B system, implemented in Portuguese rail tracks in the 1990s, is based on Bombardier’s (now Alstom) EBICAB 700, which was first implemented in Sweden, Norway, and then in Bulgaria.
However, the newest trains are not equipped with class B systems on board; instead, they have an ETCS unit on board, as part of the transition to the common European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS). Without the translation device, the newest trains could only run on a small fraction of the country’s 2,500-kilometre network — those equipped with ETCS balises.
The Portuguese solution
To solve the compatibility issue between trains and tracks, Portuguese tech company Critical Software developed a Specific Transmission Module (STM) that permits trains equipped with ETCS to read the signal emitted by Convel balises. This corresponds to the ETCS level STM, meant for trains equipped with ETCS running on tracks where the legacy national system (Class B system) needs to be operated.
The system acts as a “translator” between legacy Portuguese signalling and the new European Train Control System (ETCS). It was engineered together with private companies such as Medway (Iberian freight operator owned by MSC), Stadler, Alpha Trains and Hitachi. The solution was presented last July in Poceirao, as RailFreight.com’s sister publication Railway Gazette reported at the time.
Without any STM system, new trains could only circulate on the new rail track between Évora and Elvas (a new corridor with speeds up to 250 km/h), between Pampilhosa and Vilar Formoso (Beira Alta’s line) and between Cais do Sodré and Cascais. In total, only around 300 km of the 2500 km Portuguese railway network can be reached with ETCS-only equipped trains. Portugal has a plan to install ETCS balises along the entire rail network until 2050.
Lines within the European TEN-T corridors, such as Linha do Norte (Lisboa-Porto), will have priority in the installation. Once the Convel STM is no longer necessary, the device is simply unplugged from the system, without any major interventions.
Learning process
Despite the complaints, the certification and homologation of the STM Convel require track testing. The prototype unit is one of Medway’s Siemens 4700 locomotives. The equipment was already installed. The testing in field conditions is expected to start in June, in the dawn, when there are no freight and passenger services in most of the Portuguese network. This will happen at least six months later than expected.
Only with the completion and certification of the prototype unit does the process for the newer locomotives begin. Captrain and Medway responsibles are convinced that once STM Convel is deployed, new operators can join the Portuguese market, using more efficient locomotives with larger traction and fewer operational costs. At that time, the cross-border freight will not require any locomotive change.